Mild, Dry Weather on Tap This Week

A fast-moving disturbance currently crossing the nation’s mid-section will reach the Mid-Atlantic coast on Tuesday, accompanied by light rain and snow, according to USDA's Joint Ag Weather Facility. A brief period of cold weather will trail the disturbance, but warmth will expand as far east as the Plains by mid-week.

Mild weather will return to the remainder of the U.S. during the second half of the week, except for a lingering chill from the Great Lakes region into the Northeast.

Precipitation will return to the Pacific Coast States on Wednesday, followed by a late-week deluge in northern California and the Pacific Northwest. Five-day precipitation totals could reach 1 to 2 inches in the northern Rockies; 2 to 4 inches in the Pacific Northwest; and 4 to 8 inches in northern California.

The NWS 6- to 10-day outlook for December 1-5 calls for warmer-than-normal weather nationwide, except for near-normal temperatures in New England and southern Florida. Meanwhile, above-normal precipitation across the nation’s northern tier and much of the West will contrast with drier-than-normal conditions from the central and southern Plains into the Southeast.

In the West, mild, dry weather is promoting fieldwork, including cotton harvesting in Arizona. Somewhat cooler conditions cover the interior Northwest, where conditions have improved in recent weeks for rangeland, pastures, and winter grains.

On the Plains, some light snow is spreading across Nebraska. Meanwhile, bitterly cold air covers the Dakotas, where this morning’s temperatures fell to near 0°F in some locations. Lingering warmth is confined to Texas, excluding the state’s northern panhandle. Recent weather developments have not brought much, if any, relief to drought-stressed winter wheat.

In the Corn Belt, patches of light snow are spreading across western areas, including Nebraska. Elsewhere, cold, dry weather prevails. Any remaining harvest activities in the eastern Corn Belt are nearing completion.

In the South, a few rain showers are breaking out in the lower Mississippi Valley. Elsewhere, dry weather favors late-season fieldwork, including winter wheat planting and cotton and soybean harvesting. In the Southeast, freezes were noted this morning as far south as northern Florida.